Montreal Canadiens: Five Trades That Ruined Habs Latest Dynasty Before It Started

5. Chris Chelios traded to the Chicago Blackhawks for Denis Savard

The general manager of the Montreal Canadiens for their last two Stanley Cups was Serge Savard. He made some great trades that helped make those championships happen. He acquired Bobby Smith who was key to winning in 1986. He also traded for Vincent Damphousse, Kirk Muller and Brian Bellows who led the team offensively to their 1993 championship.

One trade he made that he surely would have liked to have back was Chris Chelios being dealt to the Chicago Blackhawks for Denis Savard. The Habs even threw in a second round draft pick in the deal that was put together in June of 1990.

At the time, Chelios was already a dominant two-way defenseman who played a punishing defensive style that would make Chris Pronger blush. In his last full season with the Habs, Chelios scored 73 points in 80 regular season games and added 19 more points in 21 postseason games. He won the Norris Trophy and would have been a candidate for the Conn Smythe as well had the Habs downed the Calgary Flames that year.

Chelios would continue to be a dominant defender through the 1990’s and did not retire from the NHL for another 20 years after being traded from Montreal. Savard, on the other hand, saw his impressive offensive totals from the 1980’s drop off dramatically. He had 70 points in 77 games in 1991-92, but by the time the Habs won the Cup a year later he was reduced to a spare part that was dealing with severe injuries.

Savard left Montreal to play with the expansion Tampa Bay Lightning in 1993-94. Chelios won another Norris in 1993 and took home a third in 1996. He averaged over 30 minutes of ice time per game in 1998 and was simply one of the best two-way defenseman in the league for the entire decade. The Habs won one Cup without him, but he could have been the cornerstone of a few more titles in 1990’s if he stayed in Montreal.